Nett Lake, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Nett Lake, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Nett Lake lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Nett Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nett Lake — the short answer
Nett Lake, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 143 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~143
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 3b is Nett Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nett Lake's 143-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nett Lake
Each reading below is measured for Nett Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNett Lake runs about 143 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredNett Lake sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Nett Lake is in
Nett Lake sits in the Northern Minnesota Wetlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Nett Lake's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: St. Louis County is mostly Northern Lakes and Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Nett Lake
Every plant below cleared Nett Lake's own zone 3b and its 143-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nett Lake?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Nett Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nett Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 065N21W17DDD 01Nitrate · 2000 ft
- 065N21W17CCC 01Nitrate · 2200 ft
- 065N21W17CDC 01Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- 065N21W18CDB 01Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- BOIS FORTE MEDICAL CLINICBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Multi Service Center FoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Nett Lake Community CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 065N21W17CDA 01Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- BOIS FORTE HEALTH CLINICBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- BOIS FORTE RTC WQLABBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- 065N22W24AA 01 BIA-Nett LakeNitrate · 0.9 mi
- Bureau Of Indian Affairs/Law EnforcementUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
5 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nett Lake's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Nett Lake.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nett Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nett Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nett Lake, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Nett Lake. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Nett Lake
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nett Lake average
Your land is one point inside Nett Lake
Everything above resolves to Nett Lake as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Nett Lake Average
Nett Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Nett Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Nett Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Nett Lake's scale: May 10 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nett Lake's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nett Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nett Lake, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nett Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nett Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nett Lake average
How we know this about Nett Lake
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Nett Lake’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Nett Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Nett Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nett Lake typically lands around May 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 31.
When is the first frost in Nett Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nett Lake typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 143 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nett Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nett Lake sees about 143 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 16, about 108 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nett Lake?
The federal record around Nett Lake is light — 28 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (22), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Nett Lake?
With about 143 frost-free days between hard freezes, Nett Lake rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 171 to 199 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Nett Lake's scale — its 3b band and its 143-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nett Lake's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Nett Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Nett Lake's own scale — its own ~143-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,101 acres it covers and 28 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nett Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nett Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Sep 30 and the ~143-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 28 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nett Lake, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nett Lake's boundary and the 1,101 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~143-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Nett Lake sits in the Northern Minnesota Wetlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nett Lake's 1,101 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Louis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Louis County
- The growing challenges every Minnesota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Minnesota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom St. Louis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nett Lake's 1,101 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nett Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,101 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Nett Lake-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaNett Lake sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides